The invention relates to a guiding structure for regularly moving a moving member movably attached to a fixed member, more specifically, improvement of a guiding structure for regularly moving a moving member by guiding a shaft provided at one of a fixed member and a moving member along a cam groove provided at the other of the fixed member and the moving member to thereby move the moving member regularly.
There has been proposed a guiding structure, wherein a shaft provided at a moving member, such as a lid, for openably closing an opening of a fixed member, such as a housing box, is guided along a cam groove disposed on the housing box, to thereby regularly move the moving member. For example, refer to Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 8-156698.
However, in such a guiding structure, heretofore, in order to smoothly move the moving member, in other words, in order to reduce frictional resistance between the shaft and the cam groove when the moving member is moved, and to prevent noises when the shaft is guided in the cam groove, it is indispensable to provide a large amount of lubricant, such as grease, around the shafts.
Thus, when a product using such a guiding structure is manufactured, there are disadvantages such that a step for applying the lubricant is required, and also, the lubricant to be applied adheres to hands of a worker who carries out the final assembling work of the product to thereby make the work difficult.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a guiding structure for a moving member, wherein without applying a lubricant to a shaft provided to one of a fixed member and the moving member guided along a cam groove formed at the other of the fixed member and the moving member, the shaft can be guided with less frictional resistance with respect to the cam groove to thereby smoothly move the moving member.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
To achieve the above objects, according to a first aspect of the invention, a guiding structure for a moving member includes a slit-shape cam groove provided in one of a fixed member and a moving member; a shaft attached to the other of the fixed member and the moving member and inserted into the cam groove; and a collar provided on the shaft to slidably contact groove walls of the cam groove so as to rotate around the shaft.
According to the structure as described above, as the moving member is moved, the moving member can be regularly moved such that the shaft is guided along the cam groove through the collar. Also, resistance caused by the shaft guided along the cam groove can be reduced by the rotation of the collar slidably contacting the groove walls of the cam groove to thereby smoothly move the moving member.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the guiding structure for the moving member of the first aspect further includes a flange provided on an outer peripheral portion of the collar to be caught by one of groove edge portions of the cam groove.
According to the structure as described above, the collar can be stably positioned in the cam groove.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the guiding structure for the moving member according to the first aspect further includes a hollow or dent portion provided in one of an outer peripheral portion of the shaft and an inner peripheral portion of the collar so as to fit with a projection provided on the other of the outer peripheral portion of the shaft and the inner peripheral portion of the collar, so that the collar is rotated around the shaft.
With this structure, the collar can be stably positioned in the cam groove in a rotatable state.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the guiding structure for the moving member of the second aspect further includes a protruded portion on one side of the edges of the cam groove, and the flange of the collar contacts a projecting end of the protruded portion.
According to the structure as described above, the flange of the collar does not entirely contact an outer surface of the cam groove provided at the groove edge portion of the cam groove, so that frictional resistance between the collar and the fixed member where the cam groove is formed is not increased extremely.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the guiding member for the moving member of the first, second, third or fourth aspect, the collar and at least a portion of the cam groove the collar slidably contacts are made of a plastic material.
In case plural members made of the plastic material are used together, even if a special surface treatment is not applied to their slidingly contacting surfaces, a frictional resistance caused by the sliding contact of the members made of the plastic material becomes lower than that caused by the sliding contact of a member made of the plastic material and a member made of a metal material. Thus, according to the structure, even if the collar slidably contacting the groove walls of the cam groove is not rotated around the shaft by the sliding contact, an outer peripheral surface of the collar is facilitated to slide along the groove walls, so that the moving member can be smoothly moved at all times.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the guiding structure for the moving member of the first, second, third, fourth or fifth aspect, the fixed member is a housing box having an opening, and the moving member is a lid movable from a position for closing the opening of the housing box to a position for opening the same.
According to the structure as described above, the lid for closing the opening of the housing box can be smoothly moved from the closing position to an opening position, so that various housing members can be properly formed.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, the guiding structure for the moving member of the sixth aspect of the invention is further structured such that a cam groove is formed on a side wall of the housing box; one end of the shaft is provided with a head portion so that the shaft is inserted into the cam groove through a shaft inserting hole disposed on the lid from the other end thereof to a position where the head portion is caught by the inserting hole; and a preventing member for preventing the shaft from being extracted or disengaged from the cam groove is attached to the other end of the shaft.
According to the structure as described above, each shaft with the collar is inserted into the cam groove such that the collar is positioned in the cam groove through the inserting hole provided in the lid, and then, the preventing member is attached to the other end of the shaft, so that the lid can be easily attached to the housing box in a state where the lid can be regularly moved along the cam groove.